The use of biometric data for automatically verifying the identity of individuals is becoming increasingly common. Indeed, sophisticated computer algorithms are now available for automatically determining a match between registered biometric data and newly acquired biometric data captured by a suitable input device.
A common type of biometric data used for identity verification is an image of the face. Indeed, passports, identity cards, driving licenses and other identity documents nearly always include a photo of the document holder. It has been proposed to provide machines that can capture an image of the document holder, and compare this image with a registered image of the identity document to automatically identify the document holder.
However, fraudsters may be able to trick such machines by holding a photo of the document holder in front of the camera instead of presenting their own face.
There is thus a need for an effective method and device for verifying that an image of a face captured by a camera is indeed a living face and not simply a photograph.